The National Agri-tech Extension Service Center (NATESC), Zhejiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences (ZAAS), the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Plant Protection and the Jinhua Plant Protection Station (JPPS), held a National Seminar and Field Day in EE site of Jinhua, Zhejiang, on 14-16 September, 2010, to introduce the concepts of ecological engineering and their benefits to sustainable pest management. Locally known as Sheng Tai Gong Cheng, the methodologies are gaining acceptance among plant protection specialists.

Participants in the field demo site

More than fifty participants from provincial plant protection centers, provincial academies, universities, local governments and farmers attended the 2 day event and witness the ecological engineering demo site in Jinhua. Professor Zhang Yuejing, the principal expert on crop protection in NATESC, Beijing provided the keynote address, while special lectures were given by Professor Geoff Gurr of Charles Sturt University, Australia and a pioneer of ecological engineering, Professor Lu Zhongxian, Professor Zhu Zengrong and Mr Chen Guihua. This event is part of a series of communication activities planned in the communications strategy and message design workshop held in May 2010 (Read: Workshop Report) to introduce the ecological engineering concepts for planthopper control in China.